CONTRIBUTIONS PROMISED BY 21 MEMBER STATES AT 2005 PLEDGING CONFERENCE FOR UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

2005 UN Pledging Conference

for Development Activities

AM Meeting

CONTRIBUTIONS PROMISED BY 21 MEMBER STATES AT 2005 PLEDGING CONFERENCE

FOR UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

Twenty-one Member States announced their pledges in support of United Nations development activities and elected officials during this morning’s annual Pledging Conference for Development Activities.

Opening the 2005 Conference, Patrizio Civili, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, stressed that higher contributions for United Nations country activities, especially “unearmarked or core resources”, had remained vital in responding to challenges of the new Millennium.  United Nations bodies should focus on developing national capacities at the country level, implementing reforms to increase country operational efficiency, and introducing good management.

He noted that gross regular income for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had surpassed the 2004 interim target of $800 million in its Multi-Year Funding Framework, and that it was likely to exceed the 2005 target of $900 million.  While the Programme had a long way to go in reaching the $1.1 billion target of the Funding Framework by 2007, it should be on track to achieve it.

Unfortunately, he said, the UNDP had continued to rely heavily on a limited number of donors, with the top 10 providing about 85 per cent of regular resources in 2004.  Its regular income had remained vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations.  While the 2004 level of regular resources was approaching the Multi-Year Funding Framework target, it was imperative to reduce vulnerability through multi-year funding commitments.

Turning to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), he said that body’s regular resource contributions from Governments had come to $438 million, an increase of $35 million over 2003.  The proportion of regular resources to total income had deteriorated over the past few years, with the largest ever -- 40 per cent of total income from regular resources and 60 per cent from other resources -- being reached.

For 2005, UNICEF’s medium-term strategic plan had “forecast a target” of $455 million for regular resources income from Governments, or a 13 per cent increase over the $403 million in regular resources income from Governments in 2004.  With increased and predictable regular resources, UNICEF would be able to support national capacity development, and use other additional resources in agreed areas of providing for children.

As for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Mr. Civili said its resources, core and non-core, last year had reached a total of $506.1 million, the Fund’s second highest amount ever.  About three quarters -- $332 million -- was for core resources, a 13.7 per cent increase from the previous year.  Resources this year should pass the $400 million mark, including over $354 million in core resources, and $131 million in co-financing resources, as of 1 November 2005.

In closing remarks, Mourad Wahba, Director of the Division for United Nations Affairs of the UNDP, speaking on behalf of UNDP Administrator Kemal Derviş, said that poverty reduction and democratic governance had accounted for two thirds of total programme expenditures in 2004, while almost 90 per cent of regular resources were allocated to low-income countries, and close to 50 per cent to Africa.

He said the favourable trend in resources had shown that significant progress had been made in joint efforts to rebuild the UNDP’s core funding base.  Following this year’s annual funding session, some 19 countries had announced an increase in their contributions for 2005, while 31 countries had maintained their level of contributions, and 13 programme countries had resumed their contributions in 2005.

Jun Kukita, Senior Programme Funding Officer, Programme Funding Office of UNICEF, speaking on behalf of UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman, expressed concern over the continuing decline in the proportion of regular resources to total resources.  In 2005, that proportion would be even lower for regular resources, owing to extraordinary support received from both public and private sectors for emergencies such as the tsunami disaster and South Asia earthquake.

Jean-Noel Wetterwald, Chief of the Resource Mobilization Branch of the UNFPA, speaking on behalf of UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, said the increase in core resources had been mainly due to increased contributions from 11 major donors, as well as the favourable exchange rate for the euro and other currencies against the United States dollar.  Equally important, multi-year pledges had increased from 20 in 2003 to 47 this year, which had allowed the agency to manage its cash flow and programmes more effectively.

Also today, the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities adopted its draft report.

At the outset of the meeting, the Conference elected Aminu Bashir Wali ( Nigeria) as President of the 2005 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, and Hamidon Ali ( Malaysia), Tiina Intelmann ( Estonia), and Paulette Bethel ( Bahamas) as Vice-Presidents.

Announcing pledges this morning for contributions in specific amounts were representatives of India, Russian Federation, Singapore, Kuwait, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Madagascar, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Turkey, Djibouti, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Iran, South Africa, Myanmar and Morocco.

The representative of Viet Nam said his country’s pledge would be the same as last year.

The representative of China said his country would announce its pledge once it had been approved.   Lebanon’s delegate also spoke.

Pledges Made
India
UNDP	$4,500,000
UNICEF	$900,000
UNFPA	$200,000
UNIFEM	$20,000
UNEP	$100,000
WFP	$1,920,000
INSTRAW	$1,100
UN-Habitat	$80,000
UNIDCP	$60,000
UNRWA	$20,000
UNV	$15,000
Russian Federation
UNDP	$1,100,000
UNICEF	$1,000,000
UNFPA	$5,000
UNEP	$500,000
UNDCP	$5,000
UN-Habitat	$400,000
WFP	$11,000,000
Singapore
UNDP	$300,000
UNICEF	$50,000
UNDCP	$5,000
UNIFEM	$50,000
UNEP	$15,000
UNEP-EastAsianSeas Trust Fund	$10,000
UNHCR	$10,000
UNCITRAL Symposia	$2,000
ECDC	$5,000
OCHA	$20,000
G77 Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund (one-off contribution)	$2,000
Kuwait
UNDP	$570,000
UNICEF	$200,000
UNDCP	$5,000
UNIFEM	$10,000
UNEP	$200,000
UNITAR	$20,000
UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture	$10,000
UNFPA	$10,000
G77 Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund	$5,000
Bhutan
UNDP	$15,000
UNICEF	$14,700
UNFPA	$5,650
UNEP	$1,350
UNCDF	$3,750
UNV	$1,900
Indonesia
UNDP	$50,000
UNFPA	$35,000
Malaysia
UNDP	$385,000
UNICEF	$84,000
UNDCP	$20,000
UNIFEM	$5,000
Madagascar
UNDP	$1,000
UNICEF	$1,000
UNEP	$1,000
UNCHS/UN-Habitat	$1,000
UNDCP	$1,000
UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund	$1,000
Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for Economic and Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries	$1,000
UNITAR	$1,000
UN Trust Fund for African Development	$1,000
United Nations Equipment Fund	$1,000
United Arab Emirates
UNDP	$324,000
UNICEF	$100,000
UNHCR	$54,000
Thailand
UNDP	$865,112
UNDP Government Local Office	Baht 15,462,000
UNICEF	$112,500
UNICEF Thailand Administrative expenses	Baht 1,250,000
UNFPA	$96,000
UNIFEM	$10,000
INSTRAW	$3,000
UNIDCP	$30,000
UNV	Baht 50,000
UNCDF	$2,500
UNITAR	$2,000
Turkey
UNICEF	$120,000
UNFPA	$108,000
UNDCP	$500,000
UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund	$50,000
UNDP	$200,000
UNIFEM	$10,000
INSTRAW	$10,000
UNV	$10,000
UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture	$6,000
UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery	$6,000
Djibouti
UNDP	$1,000
UNFPA	$1,000
UNHCR	$1,000
UNICEF	$1,000
WFP	$1,000
Tunisia
UNDP	Dinars 173,000
UNICEF	Dinars 40,000
UN Office in Tunis	Dinars 234,000
UN Equipment Fund	Dinars 2,732
UNFPA	Dinars 25,000
UNDCP	Dinars 2,000
UNHCR	Dinars 5,000
UNITAR	Dinars 1,960
UNV	Dinars 5,000
UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture	Dinars 2,000
UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund	Dinars 1,5000
UNWRA	Dinars 12,000
Human Rights Fund for Activities on the Ground	Dinars 3,000
UN-Habitat	Dinars 976
INSTRAW	Dinars 2,000
UNODC	Dinars 2,000
Algeria
UNDP	$100,000
UNICEF	$24,000
UNFPA	$10,000
UNODC	$10,000
United Nations Office in Algeria	Dinars 300,000
UNEP	$10,000
UNHCR	$50,000
UNITAR	$5,000
United Nations Fund for Victims of Torture	$5,000
Central Emergency Revolving Fund	$10,000
UNDP Drylands Development Centre	$3,500
UN-Habitat	$10,000
UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations	$5,000
UN Voluntary Fund for the International Decade of Indigenous Populations	$5,000
Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for Economic and Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries	$10,000
Nigeria
UNDP Voluntary Trust Fund for South-South Cooperation	$1,000,000
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
UNDP	$21,168
UNICEF	$5,350
UNFPA	$1,500
UNEP	$2,000
UNCDF	$1,500
UNODC	$1,000
Viet Nam (as 2004)
UNDP	$29,035
UNICEF	$19,709
UNFPA	$4,256
Iran
UNDP	$10,000
UNICEF	$53,500
UNFPA	$50,000
UNEP	$35,000
WFP	$40,000
South Africa
UNFPA	$24,000
Myanmar
UNDP	Kyat 1,080,000
UNFPA	Kyat 100,000
UNCDF	$5,000
Morocco
UNDP	Dirhams 1,750,000
UNICEF	$80,000
UNFPA	$10,000
UNDCP	$3,000
UNIFEM	$4,000
INSTRAW	$5,000
UN Voluntary Fund on Disability	$4,000
UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund	$10,000
UN Fund for Victims of Torture	$3,000
UNITAR	$3,000
UN Trust Fund for African Development	$3,000

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For information media • not an official record